Yatra death toll 47
Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, July 8: As the Amarnath yatra death toll mounts, the Health officials in Kashmir blamed high altitude, lack of proper medical check up and acclimatization for the increased deaths. So far 47 yatris have died, majority of them due to cardiac arrest, since last month when yatra started.
Five more pilgrims died today taking the death toll to 47. Pawan Kumar, 32, of Delhi died due to cardiac arrest at Brarimarg on Baltal route; Rukmini, 47, of Maharashtra, died due to cardiac arrest at Panjtarni on Pahalgam route; Narayan Appaji, 42, of Mumbai, died outside the cave shrine following cardiac arrest; Dileep Singh, 60, of Gujarat died at Brarimarg and an unidentified yatri died on Pahalgam route today.
Concerned over the mounting death toll, Governor and Chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), N N Vohra, has convened an emergency meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the possible measures to be taken to reduce the deaths.
The meeting will be attended by Sham Lal Sharma, Minister for Health, MK Dwivedi, Secretary Health Department, Dr. Salim-ur-Rehman, Director Health Kashmir, Navin K Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer and PP Singh, Additional CEO of the Shrine Board.
According to figures provided by the State’s Health Department, the health facilities of the department along Baltal and Pahalgam routes have examined around 1.8 lakh yatris, out of around 3 lakh who had darshan so far with majority of them reporting complaints of breathlessness caused due to high altitude.
Chief Medical Officer Ganderbal, Dr Dildar Mir, told Excelsior that around 1.65 lakh yatris were examined at the health facilities of the Baltal route while CMO, Anantnag, Dr Gulzar, said that over 10, 000 yatris were examined at 14 medical facility centres along Pahalgam route of the yatra.
Dr. Mir said that increased number of yatris reporting to Baltal medical facilities is due to arduous journey they take through this short route to Amarnath cave. He said that majority of the yatris they have examined at their facilities along the Baltal yatra route were suffering from shortness of breath, persistent dry cough, bright red stained sputum, weakness, fatigue, drowsiness, chest tightness, congestion and increased heart rate.
It may be mentioned here that Baltal route is 14 kilometer long while Pahalgam route is 50 kilometers and yatris chose shortest route. And deaths and problems occur to yatris as they have to climb upto 14500 feet to reach to the cave shrine with majority of the places still snow bound.
Dr Dildar said that majority of the people who die or develop major complications at the high altitude have compromise health status. He said that these patients have no cardiac or respiratory problems in the plains where from they come but when they reach to high altitudes they develop these problems.
He said that since these yatris come from the low altitude they need at least 48 hours to acclimatize. But the yatris travel directly to Pahalgam and Baltal and start the forward journey without acclimatization which is the main reason for the mountain sickness that ultimately results in pulmonary edema and cardiac arrests.
The CMO said that majority of the yatris don’t conduct the proper medical check before taking the arduous journey. “Majority of them carry mandatory health certificates just for formality. They don’t wear proper clothing and proper shoes which also results in health problems”, he added. “Besides this majority of them don’t follow does and don’ts issued by the SASB”, he added.
The CMO said that they have examined around 1.57 lakh yatris in health facilities at Baltal, Cave Shrine, Sangam, Domail, Brari Marg, Police Training School Manigam. He said that besides short term admissions, 8386 yatris were admitted in these facilities while 43 were referred to SMHS and SKIMS hospitals for treatment.
The CMO, Anantnag said that they treated 10, 394, 52 patients in their 14 medical facilities along the yatra route from Pahalgam while 327 were admitted. Around 41 yatris were referred to Anantnag district hospital and SMHS and SKIMS hospitals in Srinagar for treatment. He said that 8 deaths took place along Pahalgam yatra route.
Some of the yatris complained that they face hardships in the transportation of the dead bodies from Srinagar. However, Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma, told Excelsior that they are taking up the issue with the Government of India and Civil Aviation Ministry at New Delhi. He said that they are formally writing a letter to the Ministry about this human issue. “It should be mandatory for the airlines to carry the dead bodies on priority”, he added.
Regarding the complaints by some of the yatris about the delay in embalming of bodies and lack of mortuary facilities at Srinagar and Baltal, the CMO Ganderbal said that they conduct on spot post mortem of the bodies at Sonmarg, issue death certificates and have a mortuary for 6 bodies. He, however, said that there is no embalming facility at Sonmarg and the bodies are to be taken to Srinagar for it.
The Deputy Superintendent of the SKIMS hospital at Srinagar, Dr. Ajaz Mustafa told Excelsior that the hospital has mortuary facility for 4 bodies and do embalming of the bodies at the hospital before dispatching them.
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